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A Quick History of Ancient Greece by Neil Blackmore Contents Prehistoric Greece Archaic Greece Classical Greece Hellenistic and Roman Greece Greek Society Greek Culture Ancient Greece At War Famous Ancient Greeks Quick Timeline Copyright © 2016 by Neil Blackmore/Quick Histories All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the accepted use of brief, attributed quotations in a book review. All images were labelled as licensed for reuse at time of first publication. First published 2016 Why I Started Quick Histories I am someone who always understood history. As a child, I pored over history books and eventually I studied history at university. When I became a writer, I published historical novels. Friends would ask me to explain things from history to them and I found that I could. But often people have confided in me that they love history but they do not always understand or retain it. Quick Histories are designed to give you all the main points in a particular historical subject, big or small, in understandable but serious language, giving you the facts which you can retain and remember. All our books can be read in an hour or two, either in one sitting, or over a few days. Quick Histories are just long enough for a plane or train journey. They can serve as a quick summary of a particular subject's history. They are ideal for those who love history but struggle with the detail or need it quickly. If you like this book, you can visit our Amazon store: Quick Histories Amazon Store Thanks for reading! Neil Blackmore Founder & Chief Writer, Quick Histories Sign up for promotions, free books and review copies! Visit: www.quickhistories.com Twitter: @quickhistories Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/quickhistoriesbooks Check us out on Goodreads Map The Greek city-states and tribal kingdoms Greek colonisation of the Mediterranean in the Classical and Hellenistic periods The Hellenistic World - the culturally Greek empires that followed Alexander the Great Prehistoric Greece In this chapter, you will learn about the earliest Greek civilisations, the Minoans and the Mycenae, the coming of new technologies to Greece and the mysterious, sudden end of the cultures of Prehistoric Greece. The Neolithic Revolution - the last part and high point of the Stone Age, during which technological advance began to speed up considerably - reached Greece and the Balkans around the 7th millennium BCE. Some Neolithic communities in Greece, such as at Sesklo, were living in heavily fortified settlements of 3,000–4,000 people. The Greek Neolithic era ended with the arrival of the Bronze Age from Anatolia and the Near East, by the end of the 28th century BCE. With the advent of bronze, the durability and performance of farming and military equipment and the production of luxury items such as jewellery advanced quickly. The Bronze Age's innovations were very important for the development of trade. Around the same time, the first significant civilisation in the wider region was emerging across the Mediterranean in Egypt. Trade expanded internationally during the period, opening societies to cultural exchange with neighbours from more advanced civilisations. 2600 CE The Minoans And The Mycenaeans The first major civilization in Europe was that of the Minoans, a Bronze Age culture on the island of Crete which survived more than a thousand years from around 2600 BCE. The Minoans developed a mysterious and beautiful artistic tradition, particularly focused on painted wall frescoes and delicate, painted pottery, often focused on their "matriarchal" religion of different goddesses. Their mythology was filled with strange creatures, such as bull-headed half-men, which later become recognisable as the Minotaur myths. The story of the Minotaur was usually associated with the Minoan city of Knossos on Crete. They also developed their architecture into column-based styles of villas and temples that would greatly influence Greek buildings in the eras which followed. The militaristic Mycenaean culture followed the Minoans for another 500 years. Probably conquering Crete from the Minoans, the Mycenaeans first adopted and then developed Minoan culture, spreading it from Crete to mainland Greece and Turkey. Major Mycenaean cities included Athens, Thebes and Knossos. Although Minoan and Mycenaean cultures were advanced and urban, their writing systems have not been decoded. This means that these civilisations are regarded as "prehistoric", that is, from a time before the existence of written documentation, the basis of history. But the Bronze Age cultures of the eastern Mediterranean appear to have been disrupted violently in the 12th and 11th centuries BCE. It is not well understood why the culture ended, and it has been suggested that a mix of environmental, demographic and military factors might have impacted it. This ushered in a brief period of disruption and decline named the Greek Dark Ages between about 1000 and 800 BCE. Quick Summary - The first Greek civilisations, the Minoans and the Mycenaeans, developed a rich culture, with strong artistic and religious traditions. - The writing system of the civilisations has not been decoded, therefore they are considered "prehistoric", that is, dating from before historical records - After 1500 years, sudden and possibly violent change swept the Mycenaeans away, and ushered in a period of decline known as the Greek Dark Ages. Archaic Greece In this chapter, you will learn about the sudden and unique revival of civilisation in Ancient Greece, the rapid development of art, literature and science, and the diverse and often violent world of the different Greek city-states 800 BCE The Revival of Greek Civilisation The Greek Dark Ages had seen a general deterioration in the markers of civilisation. Urban life had declined. Palaces and temples fell into disuse and complex building virtually ceased. However, during this period, the post-Mycenaean world of the Greek city-states emerged. The existence of and relationships between these city-states became a defining characteristic of Ancient Greek history. Eventually, Greece stabilised. Trade recovered, which led to increased cultural exchange across the Mediterranean. This economic revival created such wealth that it produced a revival of art and building too. Both cemeteries such as the Kerameikos in Athens or Lefkandi and sanctuaries such as Olympia and Delphi were lavishly built and decorated from around this time. The development of writing had a major impact from these early centuries of the first millennium BCE. A new alphabet system was adopted from the Greeks' trading partners, the Phoenicians. The Greeks quickly became one of the most inventive early adopters of literacy culture, and a dazzling tradition of written entertainment and intellectual discovery rapidly emerged. Quick Biography: Who was Homer? Homer has been known throughout history as the author of the Iliad and the Odyssey, two of the most important works of all literature, not just ancient Greek writing. He was held by the ancient Greeks as the first and greatest of the epic poets and his work was closely studied through medieval Islam and Renaissance Europe. It is not known when he lived, or even if he lived at all. The fifth-century BCE historian Herodotus estimated that Homer lived 400 years before his own time, around 850 BCE or later. Homer is described in Plato's Republic as the first great writer of tragedy, and his influence on all subsequent writers seen as enormous even then. His influence extended far and wide, accounting for half of all Greek writing finds in papyrus in Ancient Egypt (where Greek was widely understood). Today, scholars dispute whether Homer was a real person at all, or whether a single person was responsible for both The Odyssey and The Iliad. It is unlikely the texts were written down for many generations after composition and so were subject to change. Even the Ancient Greeks themselves debated when Homer had lived, although they generally accepted he did. However, it remains a tantalising possibility that one of the most important writers in all human history may not have existed at all. 800 BCE The City-States and Kingdoms of Ancient Greece As noted, Ancient Greece almost always consisted of several hundred relatively independent city-states (poleis) which, despite near-constant warfare, rarely made much effort to unite. This was in sharp contrast to many other ancient civilisations Persia, Egypt, Rome - which sought to create large, centralised empires. The mountainous and island terrain almost certainly contributed to this. But Ancient Greek society was tribal in origin and despite many cultural and linguistic similarities, there seems to have been little pressure to find a common "national" identity, as in those other civilisations. This was exacerbated when Greek settlers moved to new colonies around the Mediterranean and established virtually independent new poleis more interested in trade than political control from home. Ancient Greece just never seemed to transcend this disunity or regionalism, or even particularly seem to want to. The Major Greek City-States and Kingdoms Athens (1796–338 BCE) Sparta (11th century – 195 BCE) Corinth (7th century – 337 BCE) Thebes (? – 338 BCE) Eretria (? – 338 BCE) Chalcis (? – 338 BCE) Syracuse (734–212 BCE) Kingdom of Mycenae (c. 2110 – c. 1100 BCE) Kingdom of Epirus (? – 167 BCE), later Macedon(808–146 BCE) Alexandrian Empire (334–323 BCE) Kingdom of Cyrene (632–30 BCE) 750 BCE Colonisation Outside Greece During the Archaic period, the population of Greece increased by as much as tenfold, an astonishing level of growth which suggests a wealthy and well-fed population. However, Greece could not support such huge increases. This created significant population pressure and encouraged emigration. From about 750 BCE the Greeks began 250 years of expansion across the Mediterranean. To the east, the Aegean coast of Asia Minor was colonized first, followed by Cyprus and the coasts of Thrace, the Sea of Marmara and south coast of the Black Sea. Eventually Greeks reached as far northeast as present-day Ukraine. To the west the coasts of Illyria, Sicily and Southern Italy were settled. Greek colonies were also founded in Egypt and Libya. This process eventually spread Greek culture as the primary cultural and intellectual force of the ancient Mediterranean and Middle East. Quick Question: What was the history of the original Olympic Games? The most widely accepted date for the start of the Ancient Olympics is 776 BCE. Inscriptions in stone at Olympia list the winners of a later running competition, noting it was held every four years, starting in that year. As well as running events, the Games featured a pentathlon, wrestling, boxing, and equestrian events. Competitors travelled to Olympia from different Greek cities to compete. Winners became heroes, admired and immortalized in poems and statues. The Olympics were not just athletic competitions. They were events of great religious and political importance, with ritual sacrifices to Zeus, the primary god of Ancient Greece. The period of four years came to have such significance in Ancient Greece that it was known as an Olympiad. The Games were also part of a cycle of four events, which included the Pythian Games, the Nemean Games, and the Isthmian Games. But the widely held belief that Greek cities suspended war during the Games is a modern myth. The Games reached their zenith in the 6th and 5th centuries BCE. However the Games may have continued until as late as 393 CE, when the Christian emperor Theodosius I outlawed them as a pagan ritual, emphasising their religious importance in Ancient Greece, even after 500 years Roman rule. 600 BCE The Old Systems Break Down Originally, many Greek city-states, including Athens, had traditional kingships but during the Archaic period, these forms of government began to change in many though not all - of the poleis. The power of kings generally declined, first in favour of aristocratic councils of elders. On occasion, dictators known as "tyrants" seized power and ruled as central, dominating figures. When those tyrants fell, kingdoms were often not restored. Instead, republican forms of government emerged. One Athenian lawgiver of this era was named Draco. He created a code of law so harsh that it became notorious and gave us the word "draconian". But Athenians began to tire of such harshness. A rising distaste for tyrants led to the creation of alternative systems of selfgovernment, which eventually led to the Athenian-style democracy during the Classical period. Quick Question: What was Sparta like? Sparta was unique in Greece in that its society was focused almost entirely on military training and excellence. Spartan men underwent rigorous training in a culture based on the honour of war. Despite this, Spartan women enjoyed considerably more rights and equality to men than elsewhere in the classical world. Aristotle actually partially blamed the fall of Sparta on the freedom enjoyed by its female population. Sparta, by contrast, had enslaved an entire region of Greece known as Messenia, and its population lived in perpetual servitude as the helots. Spartan slaves had a miserable experience and were treated harshly. Every Spartan youth had to kill a helot as a rite of passage. Unsurprisingly, the helots often rebelled. Writers from other Greek cities noted how harshly Spartan slaves were treated. Sparta is famous for leaving unwanted children (especially girls or weak babies) out in exposed conditions to die. However, this was not an uncommon practice across Greece, including Athens, and is a good example of how parents' attitudes to (especially small) children may change over time. Quick Summary - After several centuries of decline, around 800 BCE, Greek society suddenly revived economically and culturally, including the development of a new writing system and literature - Because of geographical and tribal issues, Greek city-states remained disunited and diverse, preferring to use emigration to create economic and political opportunities, thus spreading Greek culture far and wide - The Ancient period saw rapid development in the political culture of Greece, away from kingship and tyranny, towards republican forms of government, and eventually democracy, which would be enormously influential. Classical Greece In this chapter, you will learn about how during the Classical period, the Greeks enjoyed both great economic and cultural wealth and near-constant threats of invasion from Persia. You will also learn about some of the most famous names of Greek philosophy and what they actually believed. Quick Question: Did the Greeks "invent" history? Writing meant that almost all civilisations began to record the events of their time. These might be incidental recordings in sending tax or war-booty information, or they might celebrate the great power of kings and emerging empires. Whilst these writings are useful for history, the Greeks developed history as a literary and philosophical concept, a meaningful, reflective analysis of the past from which lessons might be learned. This was a new way of looking at the past. The fifth-century writer Herodotus is widely known as the "father of history". His Histories gave detailed analyses of the lives and activities of Persian and Greek rulers, designed to give valuable moral lessons, to record events so that they would not be lost, and simply to entertain readers. He used evidence and original sources, fundamental concepts of history-writing. Classical Greece was one of the first great ages of history-writing. People began to write and read history as we do, for its own pleasure and value. The Greeks "invented" history as we know it today. 500 BCE Classical Greece The term "Classical Greece", in historical terms, refers specifically to a period of around 200 years, from roughly 500 BCE to 300 BCE. This was a period of intense creativity and innovation and intense political pressure for all of Greece. Much of modern Western intellectual and artistic life derives from this period. At the same time, politically, it involved long, grinding external and internal wars, the extraordinary rise of Alexander the Great and the start of Greece's fading from the international stage. In 508 BCE, the Athenian tyrant Hippias was overthrown by Cleisthenes, the "father of democracy". Over the next year, the city under Cleisthenes introduced a number of reforms which began to hand power increasingly to the people on the basis of open selection and duty to one's local area rather than family or tribe. Others point to the first of a number of Persian invasions in 492 BCE. 507 BCE Athenian Democracy So, democracy was instituted in Cleisthenes's reforms in 507. The political processes of Athens began to move away from the tyrannical cliques formed among the city's aristocracy. Herodotus wrote: “In a democracy, there is, first, that most splendid of virtues, equality before the law.” However, democracy was limited to a small segment of the Athenian population. For example, in Classical-era Athens had about 100,000 citizens (Athenian citizenship was limited to men and women whose parents had also been Athenian citizens) and 150,000 slaves. Out of all those people, only male citizens over 18 were a part of the demos, meaning only about 40,000 people could participate in the democratic process. It would not have occurred to Athenians to give women any say, and perhaps the majority of Athenian adults, in this much-vaunted democracy, were actually slaves. Nonetheless, this was a hugely influential system of government, not only in our time but in Ancient Greece too. Several cities experimented with democracy although none of these left as much historical information as that of Athens. Quick Biography: Who Was Pericles? From 460 BCE, Athens was led by one of its most famous ancient citizens, Pericles. Under his talented and ambitious control, Athens became by far the richest and most powerful Greek city-state. Pericles was a populist who sought to radically extend the Athenian democracy to all persons with Athenian parentage. A great patron of the arts, Pericles promoted an almost arrogant belief in Athenian cultural supremacy. His last years saw the outbreak of a lethal conflict with Sparta. As a result, Pericles's rule is seen as the peak of Athenian confidence and democracy but also the beginning of its end. 492 BCE The Persian Wars Although mainly remembered in Europe for its many wars against Ancient Greece, Persia was one of the most well-run empires of the ancient world with a strong, centralised administration devolved through to provincial governors. It had a complex network of well-maintained roads, its own postal system and was one of the first states to encourage the use of an official language. These were significant markers of a sophisticated civilisation. It was founded by Cyrus the Great in the sixth century BCE, and quickly became the largest empire of ancient history, spanning Eastern Europe to modern Pakistan. It also occupied parts of Greece. The Ionian Revolt against Persian rule in Asia Minor began in 499 BCE, supported by Athens and other Greek cities. This sparked a series of wars between the Greek cities and Persia, with the first full invasion by the latter in 492 BCE. In 490 BCE, Darius the Great, having suppressed the Ionian Revolt, sent 100,000 Persians to take Athens, but was defeated at the Battle of Marathon by a Greek army a fraction of their size. Sparta at this time was led by a brilliant general-king named Leonidas, who was also a major opponent of Persian aggression. Another major invasion in 480 BCE led to the loss of several cities and the evacuation of Athens. After this, the Greek cities began to cooperate to resist Persian invasions. This was known as the Delian, later Hellenic, League. It was generally seen as being led by Athens in the occasional revivals of aggression that followed in the next decades. But when some states, led in another league by Sparta, began to resent Athens' preeminence, this in turn contributed to another great conflict of the era, which catastrophically ended the Classical period. 431 BCE The Peloponnesian War In 431 BCE war broke out between Athens and Sparta and its allies. The war was not really a struggle between two city-states as between the two competing leagues. The war would last an astonishing 27 years. Although full of reverses of fortune, the outcome of the war was a total reversal of the political situation in Greece. Athens, previously the great power of the Greek world, was almost completely subjugated to Sparta, which dominated Greece into the fourth century BCE. However, there were more serious outcomes of the grinding, bloody Peloponnesian War. Much of the Greek economy broke down and some cities, including Athens, experienced dramatic economic and cultural decline. Greek society militarised more generally and longer term, Greece entered into a state of near-permanent military conflict which distracted the city-states from other issues. Yet, despite all these pressures, the late fifth and early fourth centuries were a golden age of Greek philosophy. Quick Biography: Who Were Plato, Aristotle and Socrates? No three names are more connected with Greek philosophy, and associated with the intellectual life of Classical Greece, than Socrates, Plato and Aristotle. In fact, they were genuinely connected: Socrates was Plato's teacher, and Plato was Aristotle's. Just to make their influence all the greater, Aristotle was in turn the teacher of Alexander the Great. Socrates (c.470-399 BCE) was a brilliant, unusual thinker, who encouraged his students to question assumptions, especially of those in power. He also encouraged people to think about their own lives. His most famous quote is perhaps "The unexamined life is not worth living." He developed a method of questioning, in which the most basic questions could be used to expose assumptions, hypocrisy and bad thinking. However, Socrates was a critic of the Athenian democracy, which he blamed for the decline of his beloved city. He made many enemies and was convicted of corrupting the young, his punishment committing suicide by drinking poison. Plato (c.427-347 BCE) was a talented student of Socrates and his famous Dialogues record Socrates' brilliant philosophical debating methods. Plato believed in an eternal soul, and that life is nothing more than the imprisonment of the soul in a body. He further outlined the nature of existence as Forms, Ideals, or Ideas (such as equality or justice). Unlike Socrates, he wrote his ideas down in such works as The Physics or The Republic, in which he examined humanity, society, philosophy and morality. His philosophical ideas were hugely influential both in the years after his own life and throughout much Renaissance and medieval Islamic thought. Aristotle (384-322 BCE) was also a great writer, although few of his many hundreds of works survive. Aristotle was more interested in real life than Plato, and saw human existence as a search for a meaningful, moral life. Aristotle strongly advocated logic and reason as means for human living, and as such, became an enormous influence on later medieval Islamic and Enlightenment European thought. As Alexander the Great's tutor, Aristotle was allegedly the bestpaid teacher in history. 359 BCE The Rise of Macedon The fourth century BCE saw the dominance of Sparta fade too, and after a period of Thebes being in control, a northern kingdom named Macedon rose to power. Macedon was on the fringe of Greece and bordered peoples such as the Paeonians, Thracians, and Illyrians. In 357 BCE, its king Philip II conquered the Thracian port city of Amphipolis and so began extending his territory northwards. The Macedonians also became more politically involved with the southern states. Meanwhile, Philip developed his army as the pre-eminent fighting force of the region. This process continued under Philip's brilliant young son, Alexander the Great. 336 BCE Alexander the Great After his father's assassination, Alexander continued to carry out the plans of his father to conquer all of Greece. He did this by both military might and persuasion. After military victory over Thebes, he personally charmed the people of Athens into cooperation. This allowed him to focus on his real ambition: the creation of a huge land empire far beyond Greece. In 334 BCE, Alexander crossed the Hellespont into Asia. He never returned home. Conquering the vast Persian empire, Alexander also took Egypt and even invaded India. More than any other person, he managed to spread Greek culture throughout the known world, with its influence felt from India to the Atlantic. Highly educated, Alexander was an unparalleled success as a military leader, never once losing a battle. He innovated very successfully with military formations such as the phalanx, was able to spot opportunities for bold actions and inspired intense loyalty among his troops. These were the cornerstones of his success. He also founded many cities, most notably Alexandria in Egypt. Married three times, Alexander's closest companion and probable lover was his male bodyguard, Hephaestion. Such a relationship would not have been controversial in classical Greece. After Hephaestion's death, Alexander's mental health may have begun to fragment. He died soon after in 323 BCE, aged only 33. With his death, his empire was divided between his generals and the Classical era of Greece came to an end. What followed was a Greek world focused not on Greece itself but on the wider, international Hellenistic culture. Quick Summary - Classical Greece saw one of the greatest intellectual flowerings not just in Greek, but world history, with the likes of Herodotus, Socrates, Plato and Aristotle developing philosophy, logic, reason and historical study - At the same time, it was period of invasion, war and instability, which despite the brief emergence of democracy in Athens, led ultimately to Greece's decline - The extraordinary career of Alexander the Great and his empire led to Greek culture become a truly international phenomenon but this again undermined the centrality of Greece itself to its own civilisation Hellenistic and Roman Greece In this chapter, you will learn about the successful spread of Greek civilisation far beyond Greece itself, establishing its enormous influence on many other cultures. You will also learn, however, how after Alexander, Greece entered into a decline that saw it become subject to the attentions of its greatest cultural admirer: Rome. 320 BCE The Hellenistic World Emerges Alexander's general squabbled over his empire in creating kingdoms for themselves. The new Greek-ruled empires arose across Egypt and the Middle East, out of the ashes of Alexander's conquests. This had real consequences for the Greek city-states. Opportunities for ambitious men, political, economic or cultural, now lay as much outside Greece as within it. The two most important of these were Ptolemaic Egypt, ruled by a dynasty called the Ptolemies, the last of whom was Cleopatra, and the Seleucid Empire, which revived an independent Persia for several hundred years. However, there were a series of smaller kingdoms which were Hellenistic or part-Hellenistic in culture as far east as Afghanistan and India. Many Greeks migrated to new cities outside Greece like Alexandria and Antioch. Consequently, the older Greek cities themselves did not recover their status after endless war, economic turbulence and the rise of Macedon. Additionally, Greece's old tendency towards localism meant that eventually by the mid third century, the country had fragmented again. Athens, though it remained the largest and richest city in Greece, never recovered political control. Endless warfare continued in a shifting range of alliances in and beyond Greece. Now Egypt, under the Greek Ptolemaic dynasty, regularly interfered in Greek affairs. The cultural life of the Hellenistic world was, in some ways, almost identical to that of Classical Greece. But this was also its great difference. Classical Greece had been a period of tremendous innovation and intellectual activity. It was of such importance that Hellenistic culture was far too in awe of that perfect past. Greek civilisation became as much about honouring the work of its masters as creating new work. One area in which Hellenistic civilisation did advance was science. The mathematician, physicist and astronomer Archimedes lived in the third century BCE. He is famous for his work calculating pi and his many engineering inventions. Astronomy and engineering advanced during the period, along with medicine and a strong interest in scientific method, which proved hugely influential in many traditions of learning since. 200 BCE Rome Arrives In Greece Around 200 BCE, the new regional superpower Rome, having more or less broken its main Mediterranean adversary in the African state of Carthage, turned its attention to Greece. Ancient Rome hugely admired, and took large parts of its own culture from, Greek civilisation. Its ambitious rulers wanted to have not just the wealth but also the cultural resources and prestige of Greece for itself. During a series of conflicts with Macedon and Persia, Rome became active in Greek affairs. Finally, Rome declared war on Macedon in 171 BCE, bringing 100,000 troops into Greece. By 168 BCE, almost all resistance to Rome had collapsed. In 146 BCE, the Greek peninsula officially became a Roman protectorate. Greece was now nothing more than a province of Rome 146 BCE Roman Greece In return for political obedience and compliance with taxation, the Romans left local administration to the Greeks without changing many traditions. Greece was generally a loyal subject and wealthy Romans enjoyed visiting Greece for its many cultural and historical pleasures. Later Greek men were allowed to become Roman citizens and were gradually drawn into the life and institutions of the Empire. Eventually, after the fall of Rome in 476, a part of the Empire survived in the city of Constantinople (modern Istanbul). This empire, Byzantium, saw itself as the inheritor of both Rome and Greece, and eventually stopped using Latin in preference for Greek. When Byzantium finally fell to the Turks in 1453, many great works of Ancient Greek culture were returned to the west, contributing enormously to the European Renaissance. Quick Summary - The Hellenistic period saw the spread of Greek culture across much of the known world, across Egypt, Persia and most of the Middle East, as far as India - Rather than extending the innovations of Classical culture, Hellenistic civilisation was more interested in preserving the glories of the past - The Greek cities never recovered from chronic war and could not resist the rise of Rome, and became part of its empire. Greek Society In this chapter, you will learn that despite its enlightened reputation, Ancient Greek society was often not a very liberal or free place, especially for women and slaves. You will also learn about the cultural and educational world of the Ancient Greeks, and their - to us - very alien views and rules around sexuality. Quick Question: Who Were The Barbarians? The word "barbarian" has descended to us meaning someone without civilisation and the concept comes to us from the Ancient Greeks. For the Ancient Greeks themselves, barbarian mean something more specific: anyone who didn't speak Greek. To them, other nations' languages sounded like "bar, bar, bar" hence the word. Therefore, there were many sophisticated, cultured peoples, such as the Persians, Romans or Egyptians, who were considered barbarians. Although Greeks were not very concerned with race (their literature rarely refers to differences in skin colour, for example, in the way that Romans' did not either), they were very interested in their uniqueness and civilisations and were very snobbish about their civilisation and language. The Greeks believed that anyone who belonged to a Greek-speaking society was more rational than those who did not. They were contemptuous of anyone who drank beer, wore leg-covering clothes or allowed women freedom. To the Ancient Greeks, these things were seen as barbarian. Social structure Citizenship was an important, defining concept in most Greek city-states. Only free, land owning, usually native-born men could be citizens and enjoy the privileges and protections under law. Unlike Rome, social status did not allow special rights although aristocracies usually had more political power. People who became rich could move social class, although education remained an important aspect of social status. Up to half of all people (more usually, at least a third) living in many cities were slaves, however. Slaves had no political rights but they had some other rights, with their owner's permission. They could marry and own property. In Athens, celebrated for its democratic enlightenment, as many as three out of four adults was a slave. Sometimes slaves were owned by the city itself and performed public roles. These "state slaves" usually had the best conditions. Most privately owned slaves were household servants or labourers, and even poor families might have owned a few slaves. Slaves were often non-Greeks and foreigners also could usually not become citizens. However, despite this and the distinctiveness of their civilisation, Greeks had very little interest in race. They were much more interested in social class, tribal origin and educational level. Slaves' lives, though never good, differed between different cities. Owners in Athens were not allowed to beat or kill the slaves they owned and often came to agreements about eventual freedom although someone who had been a slave could never become a citizen. Meanwhile, as noted earlier, in Sparta, slaves' lives were particularly miserable and it was a rite of passage for young Spartan men to catch and kill a helot slave. Unsurprisingly, slave rebellions were common in Sparta. Perhaps more surprisingly, the rest of Greece saw very few slave uprisings, suggesting that Greek slavery was relatively benign and slaves preferred to work their way to freedom Quick Question: What were the lives of Greek women like? Women had very few rights in comparison to men, or in comparison to women in societies, for example Egypt or Rome. They could not hold property, perform public roles, or appear as witnesses in court. They had no political rights and rarely had any political power. Unlike the wives of Roman politicians and emperors, the lives of wives of famous Greek men are often fairly mysterious. In Athens, which was held to be politically advanced, women had some of the fewest rights of the entire female population of Greece. However, women often performed in religious rites and festivals, especially funerals. Women could perform senior priestly roles and the role of priestess was one of the few ways a Greek woman could acquire power or wealth of her own. The female Oracle at Delphi was among the most powerful non-royal people in the ancient Mediterranean. However, other upper-class women led very limited lives. A woman had few expectations of her husband paying much attention to her, and accepted his sexual relationships with young men or female courtesans. Women were encouraged to value friendship and to focus on child-rearing and direction of slaves. They rarely left the house except for religious reasons or to visit relations. In fact, all women were discouraged from appearing much in public, although in reality, many poorer women had to work, usually in trade or handicrafts. But women were not fully business owners, except in the business of prostitution, which was well-established. Women living conventionally were always subjugated to the will of a father, husband or son. Generally, an unmarried women was a source of social anxiety. Widows were encouraged to remarry as soon as possible after a husband's death. A dying husband might even arrange his wife's next husband for her. As stated earlier, Spartan women enjoyed considerably more rights than in virtually every other Greek city, and Aristotle blamed the fall of Sparta on the freedom enjoyed by its female population. Quick Biography: Who Was Sappho? Sappho was a lyric poet who lived around 600 BCE on the Greek island of Lesbos. She is one of the few Ancient Greek women whose name is well known in our time, although we actually know very little of her life. She appears to have worked as a teacher of young women and her poems may have been written as a form of instruction for girls' educations. Her poems were designed to be performed as music, her work expressed love for men and women while also paying homage to the deities of the times. She was hailed as one of the nine greatest poets of Greece when her work was compiled at the Library of Alexandria, though most of her work was eventually lost. Sappho is famous for her poems about her love for women, and the words "lesbian" and "Sapphic" derive from her legacy. In fact, some of Sappho's poems were about love for men. Nonetheless, some surviving verses, such as one celebrating the goddess of beauty and love, Aphrodite, focus on female same-sex desire. Greek society accepted and celebrated male same-sex desire but lesbian literature was much rarer because women's sexuality was largely ignored by Greek culture. Education Except in Sparta, education was usually private and so to be educated denoted social status and wealth. Girls might be taught to read and write, but only as a means to run a household. Women were not encouraged to read for pleasure after childhood. Boys learned how to read and write and to become very familiar with great literature. Athletics and music were also of major importance to the education of Greek boys. In Sparta, education was usually military in nature, with boys living in army barracks from the age of seven. The most famous philosophers of Ancient Greece, such as Plato and Aristotle, worked as private tutors to the most senior families in Greece, such as the royal family of Macedon. As noted, it has been claimed that Aristotle, as tutor to Alexander the Great, was the best-paid teacher in history. Economy The Greek landscape was suited to only small-scale agriculture and yet Greece became by far the richest society the world had yet known. Greece's location, however, allowed it to become a dominant force in the commercial networks that ran across the Mediterranean and its cities grew rich. Emigration and colonisation allowed Greek to build new trading cities with control over some of the region's most crucial seaports and trade routes. Their shared Greek culture meant that, over time, trade became more and more centred on Greece itself. Greece's main exports were olive oil, wine, pottery, and metalwork. Imports included meat, cheese, perfumes, glass, grain, and luxuries. Greek merchants had networks throughout North Africa, Arabia, the Mediterranean and the Middle East. Greeks travelled as far as distant, obscure Britain - then at the very fringes of the known world - to acquire tin. Greece did not invent the concept of money (as opposed to bartered goods) but rapidly developed coinage as means of currency. Its use probably began in the Greek state of Lydia around 600 BCE, and began to circulate through neighbouring cities in Asia Minor and then in Greece itself. Coins were in use in Athens by around 550 BCE. Quickly, the Greeks understood the advantages of coins: as a medium of not only of purchase and exchange but also as payment of salaries and fees, as a source of revenue as foreigners changed their valuables into the local currency at an exchange rate set by the state, as way to use and transfer metal resources, and as a means of financial authority and prestige for the city issuing the coins. Ancient Greece was also a shopping culture. Shopping was centred on places called agoras. This was the centre of the public life of the city. Every city had its own agora where merchants sold their wares imported from all over the known world. Greek shoppers did not use fixed prices but preferred to haggle. Athens had the largest and most famous agora, where it was not unusual to see public philosophical debates or religious or military ceremonies among all the shopping. Classical Greece was the most advanced and richest economy in the world. The average daily wage of the Greek worker, in terms of wheat, was 12 kg, three times the average daily wage of an Egyptian worker during the Roman period. Quick Question: What did the Ancient Greeks like to eat and drink? The Ancient Greek diet would impress us today as very healthy. It used the plentiful vegetables and fruit of the region, as well as produced food such as olive oil. Fish was the main source of protein in the Greek diet. Red meat was expensive and rarely eaten, usually when animals were slaughtered as part of religious rituals. Bread was eaten at every meal and was the only form of utensil, used to scoop up oil, wine and soup. It was also used as a napkin to protect clothing, but after the meal this was thrown on the floor for dogs or slaves to eat. Breakfast was eaten early and consisted of bread dipped in wine. Lunch was the same along with olives, figs, cheese and dried fish. Dinner was the main meal. It consisted of vegetables, fruit, and fish. Honey was used to create sweet bread and cakes, which would have been eaten at dinner. The Ancient Greeks had strict rules about excessiveness and what was appropriate. Wine was drunk throughout the day but was watered down. To drink unwatered wine - and also any milk or beer - was considered very uncouth, something that barbarians would do. Men often had dinner parties but women were not allowed to attend. These were grand, serious affairs, with performances of music and dance and formal discussions about politics, philosophy and morality. Drunkenness was viewed negatively, although wine was seen as an excellent aid for health. However, the people of Macedon were known for their heavy drinking, and Alexander the Great was reported often very drunk. Sometimes, what the Ancient Greeks said and what they did had some distance between them. Sexuality Like Ancient Egypt, the openness and apparent liberality of Ancient Greece about sexuality, and particularly homosexuality, can be surprising. Writers mentioned same-sex relationships often in ancient Greece and mythology included stories on the matter without much comment on its nature or morality. Most of the major Greek gods pursued love affairs with women and men. However, it would be wrong to think that Ancient Greek sexuality was endlessly liberal. In fact, the rules around sexuality were often very defined. Also, we must remember that the concept of being homosexual or heterosexual would have been very odd to the Ancient Greeks. All men were assumed to have some interest in same-sex relation at some point in their life, and it was regarded as lustful and excessive to be solely interested in the opposite sex. This shows that sex often had a social role or public function, which again, is alien to us. As we have seen, the most important was in the education of boys and young men. The roots of Greek "pederasty" were very ancient, before even the emergence of cities. In older societies, a man would take a teenage boy off to learn how to hunt or fight, and in isolation, have a sexual relationship. As the city-states emerged, this became part of a wider training for public life. The relationship began with a courtship, although there would be some degree of family approval in advance and the boy could reject these advances. Generally, a father would arrange for a friend or admired acquaintance to begin this relationship. Any man who failed to do this for his son would have been regarded as a bad father! The relationship would not begin before 12 and was largely over by about 17. After this, the two men often had a lifelong friendship but their sexual relationship almost always ceased. The other area in which same-sex relationships between men were encouraged was in the army. In some military units, for example, the Sacred Band of Thebes, sexual relationships between soldiers were very important in order to increase the mutual devotion for one's comrades. Sparta also encouraged homosexuality among its military. An ongoing consensual relationship between two adult men was often controversial. This was not so much a condemnation of the emotions involved (men were expected to have intense friendships) but rather that the act of performing a sexual role that was feminine was shameful for a man. Therefore, a man who allowed himself to be penetrated was humiliated in the eyes of society. However, sexual relationships between adult men were known. Although subject to some debate, the most famous is between that of Alexander the Great and his bodyguard, Hephaestion, at whose sudden death, Alexander is said to have had a nervous breakdown. Despite the writings of Sappho, noted above, lesbianism was not as widely considered in Ancient Greek society. This was almost certainly because women's sexualities - indeed, lives - were, in general, less interesting to the Greeks. Where all-female communities existed, lesbianism was accepted as a fact. But married women were not free to pursue lesbian relationships in the way that their husbands might pursue same-sex encounters. Women's heterosexual interests were in fact seen as excessive and dangerous and in need of control. This was in part an origin of the many restrictions on the lives of Greek women. Women - and sex with women - were regarded by men as necessary only for the production of women. The great playwright Euripides summed up much of this attitude, writing: "If only children could be got some other way without the female sex! If women didn’t exist, human life would be rid of all its miseries." Because women had so few cultural outlets, apart from the rare likes of Sappho, women's views on the matter went unrecorded! Religion A largely homogenous Greek religion developed despite the disunity of Greece itself and eventually spread far across the Mediterranean, into other cultures, most notably Rome, which wholesale copied Greek mythology. The "pantheon" of Greek gods - Zeus, Poseidon, Hades, Apollo, Aphrodite, Ares, Dionysus, and so forth - has been well-remembered throughout history. The mythology of their exploits, love affairs, and enmities have inspired artists ever since. There was a hierarchy of deities. Zeus was the chief god but not in control of the others - or sometimes even his own emotions and desires. Poseidon ruled over the sea, Hades over death and the Underworld, and Aphrodite controlled love. The conflicts between the gods reflected the turbulence of human life. Gods were not necessarily good or kind. They were subject to human desires, intense jealousies or sexual infatuations. Zeus was a remarkably active seducer of women, men and even animals. Greeks believed strongly in fate and destiny. Sometimes gods tried to delay someone's destiny, for example, when they prevented Odysseus going home, but they could not change it. One's own behaviour was important but so too was that the correct funeral rites had been observed after death. Therefore, funeral preparations and rites by the family of the deceased were extremely important. Whilst Greeks believed in an underworld named Hades to which the dead went, views of Hades changed a great deal over time. Sometimes it was seen as a frightening place into which all souls passed. At other times, it was seen as divided into a place of torment and a place of pleasure, into which different souls went. A few remarkable souls became immortal but for many, the afterlife could be an uncertain place and one's fate there would be a source of anxiety. One important aspect of behaviour was something called hubris. We understand hubris today to mean excessive pride, but the Greeks extended the concept to include various immoral or excessive behaviours, including rape. Excessiveness in any activity, including eating or drinking wine, was frowned upon. Therefore, rape was viewed as wrong not so much because of its violence against or violation of the victim but because it was an excessive behaviour and that excessiveness was why the man should be judged. As noted above, women performed a significant role as priests, although men were very much involved in religious rites. Most of these were carried out at an altar either in public or in a temple. The sacrifice of animals, most notably a ram, was seen as particularly auspicious or useful. Quick Question: Is it true that the Ancient Greeks killed their children? The Ancient Greeks considered human sacrifice for religious or political reasons as barbaric. Yet it is often stated that the Spartans, famous for their cruelty, left baby girls on a hillside to die of exposure. However, the exposure of newborns was widely practiced in ancient Greece, including in Athens. In Greek custom, a woman presented a child to its father who then had to accept or refuse it. The father alone took the decision to expose a newborn baby, and a child could be exposed for a number of reasons, including preference for a different gender or economic difficulties. Aristotle even recommended it for children born with disabilities. The father would not be questioned or criminalised, as long as he did not actually kill the child. The mother often had no say in the matter. In leaving a child exposed to the forces of nature, or to be killed by a wild animal, a charge of murder could be avoided. If the baby disappeared entirely, Ancient Greeks sometimes believed that the gods had rescued it. It is not known what percentage of children died this way but it is believed that it was not a small number. Greek Culture The wealth of their country allowed the Greek population to enjoy a comfortable lifestyle, and to have time for leisure and cultural pursuits, significant aspects of civilisation. The Greek elite used their wealth to patronise artists, scholars and writers. Greek culture had an unprecedented amount of people who were primarily involved in teaching, philosophy and culture. The concept of the artist and the philosopher developed rapidly in this atmosphere. Ancient Greek culture truly changed the world. Its philosophy was focused on reason and inquiry, a huge influence on both modern philosophy and science. Some wellknown philosophers of ancient Greece were Plato, Socrates, and others. Their influence was profound on Roman, Islamic and eventually Renaissance European civilisation. Ancient Greek science advanced medicine, engineering and mathematics, contributing the basic rules of geometry, the idea of proof, and many discoveries that moved human knowledge forward. For example, the Greeks also made the first suggestions in the wider region that the Sun was at the centre of the Universe. The Ancient Greeks had the first extensive culture of literature, including poetry, drama and history. The epic poems The Iliad and The Odyssey were forms of all three. The Ancient Greeks first differentiated the forms of drama known as comedy and tragedy. The art of ancient Greece has exercised an enormous influence on the culture of many civilisations from ancient times until the present, particularly in sculpture and architecture. Well into the 19th century, the classical tradition derived from Greece dominated the art of the western world. Greek Drama Apart from history and philosophy, most Greek literature was designed to be performed. Ancient Greek drama is one of the greatest cultural gifts from the civilisation and continues to have enormous impact on story-telling and performance to this day. It is not clear when Greek tragedy emerged although its great age appears to have begun in Athens in the sixth century. Drama was important both socially and culturally to the Athenians and eventually large, famous competitions for writers and actors emerged. Perhaps surprisingly, tragedies were initially designed to be performed only once, so that the remembering and recitation of old plays shows both their cultural impact and the importance given to the skill of quotation. Many plays were not available in their written form at time of performance and were only written down years, even centuries, after their first performance. This means that many plays would have been recorded in different forms to their original performance. It also means that the vast majority of even the most famous plays were eventually lost to history. In the fifth century, Athens was rebuilt and theatre space was formalized to reflect its prestige in Athenian. This century is regarded as the Golden Age of Greek drama. Competitions of new plays became even more important. Tragedy and comedy were not regarded as different parts of one form but as two separate forms. Tragedy dealt seriously and philosophically on issues of emotion, humanity and history. Comedy was ironic, using mockery of the powerful to teach moral lessons. There was a third form, called satyr plays, which were much shorter and used themes from mythology to make sexual jokes and perform visual pranks. This was designed to be funny and salacious, rather than the more high-brow, ironic tone of comedy. In addition to the main actors, who could become famous, the performance had a chorus from 12 to 15 people, who performed shorter plays or accompanied the main performance with commentary or music. Music played on lyres and flutes were a very important part of the experience. Initially the performance space was called the orchestra and referred solely to the area of performance. This term was replaced by the word theatron, which also included the audience, recognising their importance in the experience. Props and theatrical backdrops were an important part of the experience. Most famous of all was the use of masks. We know very little of the masks as they were made of reeds and other plant materials and often destroyed after performances. It is believed that the chorus wore masks, usually the same mask, to give a ghostly, uniform appearance as they commented on the actors on the stage. Perhaps because of the many restrictions on women in Ancient Greek society, actors were always men and masks could have a function of allowing a man to appear feminine. With the decline of Athens, drama also declined somewhat. The tendency of Hellenistic culture to celebrate the past meant that there appears to have been much less writing, at least which has survived. Ancient Greece At War In Archaic Greece, warfare was both chronic and small-scale, often amounting to little more than squabbles between the city-states and low-level skirmishing. The Greco-Persian Wars changed the nature of war in Ancient Greece. To fight the enormous armies of the Achaemenid Empire was beyond any single state and forced the cities into an alliance. But this unity proved destructive. The military rise of Athens and Sparta led directly to the Peloponnesian War after the Persians left. This war greatly increased the importance of, and expenditure on, warfare. Expensive long-term sieges and naval battles became common. By the fourth century BCE, warfare had destabilised Greece and Persia now found it easier to meddle and provoke new conflicts rather than to invade. This allowed the rise of Macedon in the north. Two brilliant kings, father and son Phillip II and Alexander the Great, used military innovation and their own genius to bring first Greece and then most of the known world under their control. The Techniques of Ancient Greek Warfare The hoplite was the basis of all Greek fighting between the Greek Dark Ages and the rise of Macedon. A hoplite was an infantryman that became a group of citizensoldiers for the Ancient Greek City-states. They were primarily armed with spears and fought in a phalanx. Hoplite armour was extremely expensive so it was inherited from relatives. Hoplite fighting spread throughout Greece. Battles were fought formally, in flat, open spaces so that there was less scope for trickery or unfamiliar fighting. Cavalry existed but were used not as a primary source of attack but rather to protect the flanks. Initially the Ancient Greeks did not use much missile technology. Hoplites were organised into a phalanx, an almost impenetrable formation of men standing shoulder-to-shoulder. The hoplites locked their shields together and projected their spears out over their shields. This allowed enough protection to bring large numbers of men into battle without significant losses early on in the conflict. Advancing towards the enemy, the phalanx would jog forward in formation. The bravest and best men stood at the front where there was most risk. Each phalanx would do all they could to resist breaking up and the one that succeeded almost always won. This was the core idea of phalanx fighting. The intended effect was shock and a short battle. Battles rarely lasted more than an hour and casualties were light. Even the losing side expected to lose no more than one in twenty fighters. However, this was not a benign form of warfare. Invaders preferred to attack during harvest time, which had two effects. By bringing the war to the enemy's land, it reduced the chance of war in one's own agricultural land during the socially and economically important time of harvest. Additionally, the invader attempted to disrupt and destroy the harvest in the area they were attacking, which potentially caused starvation and economic disaster for the enemy. Fighting Starts to Change Over time, strict codes of how to fight emerged which surprisingly few commanders broke. After centuries with almost no military change, during the Peloponnesian War, already-existing forms of military technology, such as javelin throwing and archery, became more common. It is possible this reflects greater use of foreign or outer-Greek mercenaries as the intensification of warfare suddenly accelerated during this long, intense conflict. Many of these would have been mercenary troops, hired from outlying regions of intensification of warfare suddenly accelerated during this long, intense conflict. Macedonian Innovations Unlike the southern city-states, Macedon was a larger, northern, tribal kingdom which had to deal military with cultures beyond Greece as well as city-states like Athens or Thebes. It was perhaps because of this that it eventually became one of the most inventive military cultures of Classical Greece, leading to two especially brilliant commanderkings. Phillip II of Macedon was a talented and creative general who greatly extended his kingdom in the mid fourth century BCE. He conquered all city states in the vicinity of Macedon, then sought to establish his control over the southern Greek city-states, defeating Athens and Thebes in 338 BCE. This established a lasting Macedonian hegemony over Greece, and allowed Phillip the resources and security to launch a war against the Persian Empire. His son, Alexander the Great, continued this process with dazzling success. Phillip broke with Greek military traditions and so achieved such progress. He was able to assemble a more diverse army, including stronger cavalry. He reformed the phalanx with lighter armour and six-metre pikes. This phalanx could effectively pin down enemy infantry in an area, so that the cavalry and archers could cut them down. Philip and Alexander broke with other long-held rules of the battleground, introducing surprise and in-the-moment innovation to wrongfoot and defeat enemies. Alexander thus became one of the most successful generals in human history. Quick Question: Did the Trojan War really happen? Homer's descriptions of the long Trojan War, with its heroes such as Achilles and Hector, its grand conflicts over the love of a woman, have been enormous, enduring influences on European - and indeed - world traditions of storytelling. But is the Trojan War real history? Greek epics and Hittite records and ancient Jewish and Egyptian records certainly point to a long period of warfare in the wider Greek world, which ties in with the archaeologist record of the end of Mycenae and the collapse into the Greek Dark Ages. But whether these relate to anything Homer told us is unclear. The Hittite evidence refers at least four major wars, from the late 15th century BCE to the late 13th century BCE. The archaeological evidence shows that a city named Hisarlik, sometimes identified as Troy, was destroyed several between 1300 and 1000 BCE. This would also correspond to the violent end of Mycenaean civilisation. But did these have had anything to do with the love of Helen? Probably not: if there was anything truth to the stories of the Trojan War, it was far more to do with economic, social or technological change than competition over one - no matter how beautiful - woman. Famous Ancient Greeks Below you will find a selection of Ancient Greeks famous in their fields. Aeschylus - A Greek playwright, the father of the tragedy. Aesop - Aesop's fables featured talking animals but were designed as moral stories. Possibly a mythical character. Alexander the Great - often called the greatest general in history, Alexander expanded his empire across the Middle East and Persia as far as India, never once losing a battle. Archimedes - one of the great mathematicians and scientists in history, famous now for shouting "Eureka!" ("I have found it!") at a moment of inspiration. He made many discoveries and many inventions. Aristarchus of Samos - an astronomer who first understood the Universe was massive, that the Earth circled the sun not vice versa, and that stars were vast distances away. Aristophanes - playwright, considered the father of the comedy. Aristotle - philosopher. A student of Plato, he was in turn tutor to Alexander the Great. Cleisthenes - the father of Athenian Democracy. He reformed the constitution to remove tyrant or aristocratic power. Demosthenes - a politician, considered the greatest orator of the entire Ancient Greek world. Draco - the harsh lawgiver of Athens, famous for his "draconian" laws that made many offences punishable by death. Euclid - a mathematician, "the father of geometry". His work The Elements includes mathematical systems that remain the basis of mathematics. Euripides - playwright, specialising in tragedy. His plays feel modern still with realistic characters, including strong women and clever slaves. Herodotus - A historian who chronicled the Persian Wars, Herodotus is often called the Father of History. Hesiod - Another historian who recorded large aspects both of Ancient Greek rural life and Greek mythology which has helped us understand much about the society, folklore and religion of Ancient Greece. Hippocrates - A scientist and medical theorist, now seen as the father of Western Medicine. Doctors still take the Hippocratic Oath to "first do no harm". Homer - the most famous of the Greek epic poets credited with the epic poems the Iliad and the Odyssey. Now historians dispute whether Homer was a real historical character. Leonidas - the most famous and successful king of Sparta. The finest expression of the highly militarised Spartan culture, Leonidas scored brilliant victories over the invading Persians. Pericles - The leader of Athens during its Golden Age. Although he ultimately undermined democracy, he also led great building projects in Athens that still survive today in the city's last phase of political glory. Pindar - the greatest of the nine lyric poets of Ancient Greece, best known today for his odes. Plato - one of the three great philosophers of Ancient Greece, and the most theoretical and intellectual. Pythagoras - A scientist who created Pythagoras's Theorem still used today in much of geometry. Sappho - One of the great lyric poets, she wrote romantic poetry that was very popular in her day. One of the few women whose name is recognisable from Ancient Greek civilisation, which shows a great deal about the position of women in its society. Socrates - The first of the three great Greek Philosophers, considered by many to be the founder of Western philosophy. Solon - an Athenian politician who devised the founding principles of democracy. Sophocles - probably the most popular playwright in Ancient Greece, with over 100 plays, winning many public writing competitions. Thucydides - A great historian known for his exacting research into the wars between Athens and Sparta. A Quick Timeline of Ancient Greece All dates BCE 800 End of the Greek Dark Ages 776 Traditional date for the first historic Olympic games 735 Macedon established, the northernmost Greek state 734 First colonists go to Italy 621 Draco, Athenian lawgiver, issues code of laws, with many crimes punishable by death The word "draconian" comes from his name 600 Sappho, Greek poetess, lives on Lesbos 569 Pythagoras is born 508 The tyrant Hippias is forced to leave Athens by the reformer Cleisthenes 507 Cleisthenes introduces early democracy 490 Battle of Marathon defeats the Persians who begin a long period of invasion 480 Leonidas, Spartan, sacrifices 300 Spartan soldiers at the Battle of Thermopylae 480 Battle of Salamis: Persians defeated 457 Pericles, Athenian statesman, radically extends democracy 449 Herodotus, the first true historian, writes History of Greco-Persian War from 490–479 441 Euripides, Greek playwright, wins Athenian prize 435 Phidias, Greek sculptor, completes statue of Zeus at Elis, one of the seven wonders of the world 432 End of "Golden Age" of Athens under Pericles 431 Sparta commanded by King Archidamus II prepares to destroy Athens thus starting the Peloponnesian War 429 Hippocrates, Greek doctor, writes that diseases have a physical cause 428 Plato born 411 Democracy ends in Athens 404 Athens surrenders, ending Peloponnesian War. Athens never recovers its power. Sparta dominates for several decades 399 Socrates, Greek philosopher, condemned to death for corrupting youth 347 Plato dies 342 Aristotle begins teaching Alexander the Great 336 Alexander succeeds father his father Philip II 332 Alexander conquers Egypt and then invades Persia 327 Alexander invades northern India 323 King Alexander dies, and his generals carve up his empire, creating the Hellenistic world of Greek-ruled empires across Africa and the Middle East 280–275 Pyrrhic War 265 Archimedes develops the Archimedes screw, specific gravity, and theorises the centre of gravity 200–196 Second Macedonian War leads to entry of Rome directly into Greek affairs 146 Rome ends Greek independence